"Siou kio, sia bukan macam dulu lagi" and "BUKU BERTEMU RUAS" ???

"BUKU BERTEMU RUAS" - I'm not so sure its literal definition as I have not been reading Malay materials lately - none even the idiomatic or literary material. As far as I could remember from what I've learnt from my Malay Literature teacher, it does have the elements of idiomatic expression and also similar to that of the Malay proverb.

I met this friend of mine who have been emigrated to West / Peninsula Malaysia for years to make ends meet and living. Noticeably, he has considerably changed mentally and physically - as we were having few sips of good drinks, he kept on repeating the same phrase throughout our light conversation -"Siou kio, sia bukan macam dulu lagi.." I guess it was an adverse reaction by the stimulant substance in our drinks..ha...ha.. Personally, I'm proud of him of being able to become a new person - though in the past he has been constantly being sidelined and rejected by many. He gave up smoking and physically tough and "macho" as a result of regularly working out in the gym.

The moral of the story? Well.., I used to be in the West Malaysia studying at the oldest and premiest higher learning institution located adjacent to and within the vicinity of Kuala Lumpur - weekend would be our very much awaited moment and deserved break from the long and tedious lectures during weekdays - typically we frequented hawker stalls along the Jln. Maaruf in Bangsar just to experience the delicacies and enjoying the view and sometimes we were (many times actually) tend to be carried away...he..he the best place / "niche" would be The ..... (this place is similar to Bistro with a little touch of discotheque) - It happened to be the favourite spot of people from all walks of life - apparently among the Sabahan students - both those who were studying in Local and private higher learning institutions.

It happened to be on one very weekend day that we spent our late evening moment in that place - where we unexpectedly witnessed a free show of ladies dancing almost topless on a round table - seemingly intoxicated...to our surprise...we had been informed by the bar tender (also a Sabahan) that the ladies were actually Sabahans as well (Dusuns obviously...); and studying at one of the prestigious colleges in the capital city - the truth later prevailed...the ladies were the regular patrons of the place and guess what...all expenses were paid by their Sugar da... who happened to be one of the well-known notorious ring leader in the city (how far the truth was, we didn't have any idea...it was maybe just a rumor...)

Another pathetic view was that of when we were strolling along the hawker stalls within the vicinity of Bukit Bintang - a skinny, long-haired, pathetically untidy, and physically unmanagable outlook guy was extremely preoccupied scavenging for food in the trash bins by the roadside - guess what??? That fellow was having his late evening meal out of the leftover taken from the rubbish bins by happily singing one of the popular number of Dusun songs...What a pity bumi junkie..the victim of the vicious cycle and reality of KL...

Of that the three encounters, I tried the best of my conclusive conviction to relate it with the saying "Buku Bertemu Ruas" - it isn't that precise though...

The first relation about my friend for instance - he has embarked on a new dimension of his life - he managed to bring in a "new version" of him mentally and physically though he seemed to be a little bit of arrogant... I tried in a few intervals to get over his points along our sometimes heated and sometimes cool conversation (just to test how far he has improved in terms of his reasoning skills and refuting proficiency...he..he...).

Well... in that very evening engagement we had came to the term of "Buku Bertemu Ruas"- as one of the patrons next to our table sarcastically blended in by uttering,"ha..ha.. Carl, pintar suda kawan kau tu sejak karja di KL...ini kali baru la buku bertemu ruas..." Okay... not a big deal ...

The second and third encounters implying and defining the dark version of the severe price of what our youth have to pay of being so ignorant - being so overwhelmed by the pursuit of worldly and pleasure of life...So what would happen if they were ours (the Kimaragang youth)? What would be the consequences?

Sorry...I'm not preaching here...he..he...